Profile: Mary is a Professor of Design and Technology at Theatre and Media Arts Department. She designs costume for the TMA main stage productions. She is a member of the Costume Society of America (CSA) National Board of Directors; founder of MEHR Cultural Society, a Non-Profit Organization (MEHR CS); a member of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA); United States Institute of Theatre and Technology (USITT); and a Respondent of Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Mary was also the first woman to receive a PhD in Theatre in Iran as a citizen of that country.

Mary is a native of Iran. She studied Theatre and Film at the University of Tehran. During her college years she became known as a professional actress, acting on the stage and the National Television of Iran. As she finished college, she became a valedictorian student, with the highest GPA and most successful performer of the College of Fine Arts, at the University of Tehran, Iran.

She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship from the University of Tehran in 1972, a full scholarship to study abroad. She came to the United States and received her PhD from BYU. Mary teaches history of costume, costume specialty, and costume design and construction at BYU. She is the curator of the BYU/TMA Historic Clothing Collection. Her latest publications are Dressof ethnic minority immigrants and residents: Middle Eastern People in North America (Berg Publishers) and A Keyhole Look at wedding Dresses, Highlights from the Brigham Young University/ Theatre and Media arts Historic Clothing Collection (BYU Press).

Mary also is a costume and apparel designer. Mary’s Latest costume designs were for Arabian Nights. Her latest productions that she mentored students for was The Nightingale and A Man for All Seasons… As an apparel designer, Mary has designed for Mary McFadden in New York and for Jean Barthet and Eric Dubrulle in Paris.